SC Lawyer, November 2007, #6. Ethics Watch Executive Order 2007-16.

• Author: By John Freeman

South Carolina Lawyer

Ethics Columns.

SC Lawyer, November 2007, #6.

Ethics Watch Executive Order 2007-16

South Carolina LawyerNovember 2007Ethics Watch Executive Order 2007-16By John FreemanGov. Mark Sanford issued Executive Order 2007-16 on September 20, 2007. It is a document that is of particular interest to lawyers who handle workers' compensation cases. Its significance is broader, however, for it presents further evidence of political pressures being exerted on our judicial system. This trend raises ethical issues for affected judges and lawyers.

Gov. Sanford's Order directs workers' compensation commissioners "in all contested cases to strictly apply either AMA Guides or any other accepted medical treatise or authority in making their injury compensation determinations" and to report back to the governor quarterly, "that they have used . . . such objective standards in making such compensation awards." The evident aim is to promote use of decision-making standards by workers' compensation commissioners calculated to yield lower awards to workers' compensation claimants. The governor demands in the Order that each workers' compensation commissioner file a...